DOCSLIB.ORG

(In)Visibility and Icelandic Migrants in Norway

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
(In)Visibility and Icelandic Migrants in Norway Special Issue Article • DOI: 10.2478/njmr-2014-0026 NJMR • 4(4) • 2014 • 176-183 “WE BLEND IN WITH THE CROWD BUT THEY DON’T” (In)visibility and Icelandic migrants in Norway Abstract Placing emphasis on often overlooked migration within the affluent North, this Guðbjört Guðjónsdóttir* article focuses on Icelanders who have migrated to Norway in the aftermath of the Icelandic financial collapse in October 2008. The article draws on critical Department of Anthropology, University of Iceland whiteness studies and is based on fieldwork and qualitative interviews with 32 Icelandic migrants in Norway. The findings show how the participants construct their belonging through racialization, emphasizing their assumed visual, ancestral and cultural sameness with the majority population. This article, furthermore, reveals how whiteness, language and class intersect – resulting in differing degrees of (in)visibility and privilege among the participants. Despite somewhat different positions, all the participants have the possibility of capitalizing on their Icelandic nationality to receive favourable treatment. The article argues that the preferential treatment of Icelanders and narratives of sameness must be understood in relation to contemporary, intertwined racist and nationalistic discourses that exclude other migrants due to their assumed difference. Keywords Migration • Nordic countries • whiteness • belonging • intersectionality Received 5 February 2014; Accepted 12 September 2014 1 Introduction is on the experiences of Icelanders, socially classified as “white”, The focus of migration research has been predominantly on people who have moved to work in Norway after the financial collapse in moving from the global South to the North. In recent years, migration Iceland in October 2008. When the financial collapse occurred, studies have, however, been criticized for this narrow focus on poor Iceland’s three major banks fell in the same week, setting off what migrants searching for economic opportunities (Castles 2010; Olwig has been described as a “deep and difficult crisis” (Ólafsson 2011: 2007: 87). Michaela Benson and Karen O’Reilly (2009) note that in 4). One of the effects of the crisis has been increased emigration, in the migration scholarship, comparatively affluent migrants have for which Norway has been the main destination country (Garðarsdóttir the most part been overlooked, and in the cases where they have 2012: 24). This increased migration has resulted in the number of been studied, the main focus has been on professional expatriates Icelanders in Norway more than doubling since 2008 (Statistics or international retirement migration. A different critique within social Norway 2014). research has called for the study of “the unmarked” (Brekhus 1998) Studying a rather privileged group of migrants (with regard to and those concerned with race and racism have pointed out how nationality, “race”, class and religion) is important as it offers new whiteness is an unmarked position (Frankenberg 1993), where being insights into migration experiences and sheds light on both privileges “white” equals being “normal” (Solomos & Back 2000: 21). These and disadvantages. The advantageous position of one group must scholars have criticized how “race” only figures when the research be understood in relation to how other groups are marginalized focus is on “non-white” subjects but not when dealing with “whites” and it ultimately casts light on how global power hierarchies are (Frankenberg 1993: 18; Lewis 2004). played out in a local context. The aim of this article is to explore In this article, I address these two strands of criticism as I depart how relatively privileged migrants construct their position in the from the primary focus in the scholarship on disadvantaged migrants receiving society and what role racialization and migrant (in) from the South and explore whiteness and belonging in relation to visibility play in this regard. I argue that migrant (in)visibility and labour migration between two affluent Nordic countries. My focus belonging to Norwegian society need to be analysed in relation to * E-mail: [email protected] 176 the intersections of whiteness, nationality, class and language use. that contemporary racism is often concealed by using terms like I also maintain that the preferential treatment that Icelanders seem to difference and culture. Certain social groups are represented as receive and their narrative of sameness with the majority population having natural and fixed characteristics through these “new” racist must be understood in relation to contemporary intertwined racist discourses (Gullestad 2006: 26, 30-1; Solomos & Back 2000: 20). and nationalistic discourses in Norway that exclude other migrants At the outset, critical whiteness studies were primarily focused due to their assumed difference. I start by briefly discussing the on the United States (Steyn & Conway 2010: 285). However, theoretical background of the article: migrant (in)visibility and critical scholars have stressed that what applies in a U.S. context is not whiteness studies. In the next section, I describe some aspects necessarily applicable to other settings. As Ruth Frankenberg of the relationship between Iceland and Norway, then I introduce (1993: 236) notes, “whiteness changes over time and space and is the research methods and participants. The research findings are in no way a transhistorical essence”. Whiteness is furthermore not presented in the following three sections. a homogenous category; there are certain hierarchies within whiteness at any given time and place. These hierarchies are determined by, for instance, class or national belonging (Blaagaard 2006: 12; Leinonen 2 (In)visibility and whiteness 2012: 216; Lundström 2010: 73). Whiteness, therefore, needs to be analysed not only in relation to specific national or local contexts According to a dictionary definition, the term “immigrant” refers to but also with regard to how whiteness intersects with other social “a person who comes to a country to live there”.1 In public discourses locations, such as class, gender, nationality and religion (Blaagaard in Europe the term is, however, often used in a narrower sense. Anne- 2011: 156; Frankenberg 1993; Garner: 2012: 447). Marie Fortier (2003: 243) argues that in Britain and Europe, more In a Nordic context, research on whiteness as a racial identity broadly “immigrant means black, minority, and foreigner”. Similarly, has been limited until very recently (Blaagaard 2006; Loftsdóttir & Marianne Gullestad notes that in common usage in Norway, the Jensen 2012: 7). Somewhat contradictorily, the Nordic nations have term “immigrant” (innvandrer) is “racially coded” (Gullestad 2005: represented themselves as innocent of racism and colonialism in 29), as it commonly implies “‘Third world’ origin, different values the past and present, while defining themselves in racialized and from the majority, ‘dark skin’, working class” (Gullestad 2002: exclusionary terms as “white” nations (Gullestad 2006; Loftsdóttir 50). Anne-Jorunn Berg (2008: 216) furthermore explains that the & Jensen 2012; Keskinen et.al. 2009). The Nordic nations are not innvandrer category in Norway “has strong connotations to visible only assumed to be “white”; the Nordic region “is in several ways differences or marked bodies where the colour of skin is prominent”. the epitome of whiteness in the Western and Nordic European The term “immigrant” therefore implies deviating visually from the consciousness” (Blaagard 2006: 1). Related to this privileged majority norm: being “visible”. Although the notion of migrant (in) position within the racial order, the “white” majority in the Nordic visibility is frequently used to refer to migrants’ marked or unmarked region may “have most to gain from racial thinking and most to lose embodiment (Mas Giralt 2011: 331), the term has also been used from deracialisation”, as Gullestad (2006: 40) suggests. The Nordic with a wider reference and can, for example, also refer to visibility in societies are, therefore, particularly interesting to examine critically public discourses and to being visible (audible) through language use with respect to whiteness and privilege. (Leinonen 2012). (In)visibility varies depending on context. Johanna Leinonen (2012: 214), for example, emphasizes that “hierarchies based on ‘race’, class, nationality, and language intersect to 3 Iceland and Norway in context produce different kinds of visibility for different groups of foreigners”. An intersectional approach, which highlights the relationship between Iceland and Norway have an intertwined history. Iceland was “race”, gender, class and other social locations (Anthias 2012: unpopulated until it began to be settled around 870 A.D. The earliest 106; Yuval-Davis 2006: 194), must, therefore, be incorporated into written accounts of Iceland’s settlement suggest that the settlers a study of how migrants become (in)visible in different ways in different arrived mainly from Norway but also from other Scandinavian areas settings. Whereas this article places emphasis on whiteness, it also and the British Isles. Recent genetic research of the Icelandic considers how visibility is constructed through other social locations population indicates, however, that there were far more people from such as nationality, class and language use. Although gender may the British Isles among the settlers than the early accounts suggest also be important with respect to (in)visibility, it
Load more

Recommended publications
  • CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo
    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo-European and Germanic Background Indo-European Background It has already been mentioned in this course that German and English are related languages. Two languages can be related to each other in much the same way that two people can be related to each other. If two people share a common ancestor, say their mother or their great-grandfather, then they are genetically related. Similarly, German and English are genetically related because they share a common ancestor, a language which was spoken in what is now northern Germany sometime before the Angles and the Saxons migrated to England. We do not have written records of this language, unfortunately, but we have a good idea of what it must have looked and sounded like. We have arrived at our conclusions as to what it looked and sounded like by comparing the sounds of words and morphemes in earlier written stages of English and German (and Dutch) and in modern-day English and German dialects. As a result of the comparisons we are able to reconstruct what the original language, called a proto-language, must have been like. This particular proto-language is usually referred to as Proto-West Germanic. The method of reconstruction based on comparison is called the comparative method. If faced with two languages the comparative method can tell us one of three things: 1) the two languages are related in that both are descended from a common ancestor, e.g. German and English, 2) the two are related in that one is the ancestor of the other, e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Different Paths Towards Autonomy
    Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Sagnfræði Different paths towards autonomy: A comparison of the political status of the Faroe Islands and th Iceland in the first half of the 19 century Ritgerð til B. A.- prófs Regin Winther Poulsen Kt.: 111094-3579 Leiðbeinandi: Anna Agnarsdóttir Janúar 2018 Abstract This dissertation is a comparison of the political status of Iceland and the Faroe Islands within the Danish kingdom during the first half of the 19th century. Though they share a common history, the two dependencies took a radically different path towards autonomy during this period. Today Iceland is a republic while the Faroes still are a part of the Danish kingdom. This study examines the difference between the agendas of the two Danish dependencies in the Rigsdagen, the first Danish legislature, when it met for the first time in 1848 to discuss the first Danish constitution, the so-called Junigrundloven. In order to explain why the political agendas of the dependencies were so different, it is necessary to study in detail the years before 1848. The administration, trade and culture of the two dependencies are examined in order to provide the background for the discussion of the quite different political status Iceland and the Faroes had within the Danish kingdom. Furthermore, the debates in the Danish state assemblies regarding the re-establishment of the Alþingi in 1843 are discussed in comparison to the debates in the same assemblies regarding the re-establishment of the Løgting in 1844 and 1846. Even though the state assemblies received similar petitions from both dependencies, Alþingi was re-established in 1843, while the same did not happen with the Løgting in the Faroes.
    [Show full text]
  • Escape from the Great Plains the Icelanders in North Dakota and Alberta
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for Fall 1983 Escape From The Great Plains The Icelanders In North Dakota And Alberta Howard Palmer University of Calgary Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Palmer, Howard, "Escape From The Great Plains The Icelanders In North Dakota And Alberta" (1983). Great Plains Quarterly. 1695. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1695 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. ESCAPE FROM THE GREAT PLAINS THE ICELANDERS IN NORTH DAKOTA AND ALBERTA HOWARD PALMER Immigration historians in Canada and the United One important feature of this movement that States are becoming aware of the need to look they do not highlight is the extent to which at immigration history within the larger context it included European immigrants and their of North American history. Canadian immi­ children who had settled earlier in the United gration patterns have been affected, indirectly, States but decided to move on as new oppor­ almost as much by American immigration pol­ tunities opened up in Canada. The Hrst sizable icy as by Canadian policy. Within many ethnic settlements of Hungarians, Slovaks, Lithuan­ groups in North America, there has been a ians, Czechs, Danes, Finns, Norwegians, Swedes, significant exchange of people and cultural Icelanders, Dutch, Welsh, and Hutterites on patterns between Canada and the United the Canadian prairies did not come directly States.
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Monasticism in Iceland and Norse Greenland
    religions Article Medieval Monasticism in Iceland and Norse Greenland Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir Department of Archaeology, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland; [email protected] Abstract: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the monastic houses operated on the northernmost periphery of Roman Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages. The intention is to debunk the long-held theory of Iceland and Norse Greenland’s supposed isolation from the rest of the world, as it is clear that medieval monasticism reached both of these societies, just as it reached their counterparts elsewhere in the North Atlantic. During the Middle Ages, fourteen monastic houses were opened in Iceland and two in Norse Greenland, all following the Benedictine or Augustinian Orders. Keywords: Iceland; Norse Greenland; monasticism; Benedictine Order; Augustine Order The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the medieval monastic houses operating in the northernmost dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church: Iceland and Norse Greenland. At the same time, it questions the supposed isolation of these societies from the rest of the Continent. Research on activities in Iceland and Greenland shows that the transnational movement of monasticism reached these two countries as it reached other parts of Northern Europe. Fourteen monastic houses were established in Iceland and two in Norse Greenland during the Middle Ages. Two of the monastic houses in Iceland and one in Norse Greenland were nunneries, whereas the others were monasteries. Five of the monasteries established in Iceland were short lived, while the other nine operated for Citation: Kristjánsdóttir, Steinunn. centuries. All were closed due to the Reformation around the mid-sixteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • COMPARING MYSTICISMS in ICELAND and FAROE ISLANDS Christophe Pons
    THE PROBLEM WITH ISLANDS: COMPARING MYSTICISMS IN ICELAND AND FAROE ISLANDS Christophe Pons To cite this version: Christophe Pons. THE PROBLEM WITH ISLANDS: COMPARING MYSTICISMS IN ICELAND AND FAROE ISLANDS. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 2009, 22 (2), pp.43-61. halshs- 01142960 HAL Id: halshs-01142960 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01142960 Submitted on 16 Apr 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. NJRS-2-2009.fm Page 145 Tuesday, October 13, 2009 9:32 AM Nordic Journal of Religion and Society (2009), 22 (2): 145–163 Christophe Pons THE PROBLEM WITH ISLANDS: COMPARING MYSTICISMS IN ICELAND AND FAROE ISLANDS Abstract Through the analysis of spiritualist and christian mysticisms, this paper is bringing to comparison the two opposite religious orientations that have been distinctively accepted, followed and dif- fused in Iceland (modern esotericism) and Faroe Islands (Protestant asceticism). Historical cir- cumstances and external interactions give some clues for the understanding of these orientations. But the question
    [Show full text]
  • Original Culture in Iceland, Identity and Archives
    ORIGINAL CULTURE IN ICELAND, IDENTITY AND ARCHIVES Njordur Sigurdsson Director of Acquisition & Access Chair of ICA Expert Group on Shared Archival Heritage Photo: Google Maps, www.maps.google.com. ORIGINAL CULTURE • Iceland was settled by Nordic people from Scandinavia and the British Isles in the 9th and 10th century • The language Old Norse evolved to different languages • Icelandic has changed the least and Icelanders today can easily Photo: Saga Íslands. Drawn by Samúel Eggertsson. read medieval texts PRESERVATION OF THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE • Isolation of Iceland • Manuscripts written in Icelandic that were read in homes through centuries • Writers wrote in Icelandic • Influence of Latin on Icelandic much less than other languages • The Bible and other religious Photo: The Árni Magnússon Institute in Icelandic Studies, www.arnastofnun.is. writings were in Icelandic from 16th century and onwards Photo: Reykjavík vikublað newspaper, www.rvkv.wordpress.com. MILESTONES – ICELANDIC ARCHIVAL CLAIMS • 1907 – First archival claims against Denmark • 1928 – Archives conserning Icelandic matters are delivered from Denmark to Iceland • 1946 – Claims for the return of Icelandic manuscripts from Denmark • 1961 – Danish parliament approves the return of Icelandic manuscripts to Iceland • 1971 – The first Icelandic manuscripts are returned to Iceland • 1997 – The last Icelandic manuscripts are returned to Iceland • 2003 – The first Icelandic constitution of 1874 returned to Iceland • 2004 – The archives of the Danish Office of Icelandic affairs returned from Denmark to Iceland Photo: Alþýðublaðið (newspaper) June 11th 1961, www.timarit.is. Photo: Tíminn (newspaper) June 11th 1961, www.timarit.is. The headline reads “The manuscripts The headline reads “The – they are coming home” manuscripts are coming home” Photo: Þjóðviljinn (newspaper) May 1st 1955, www.timarit.is.
    [Show full text]
  • Iceland Has Been Renowned for Its Rich Fisheries Since the Middle Ages, Attracting Fishing Fleets from Various European Countries
    Thrainn Eggertsson Department of Economics, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47408, U.S.A. Abstract Iceland has been renowned for its rich fisheries since the Middle Ages, attracting fishing fleets from various European countries. Yet the institutions of premodern Iceland permitted ocean fishing only as a part-time activity of farmers and trapped the country in abject poverty until late in the 19th century. Landed interests, who feared competition in the labor market, tied labor to the land. The domestic constraint, which would not have sufficed in an open economy, was complemented by the Danish colonial policy of isolation and monopoly trade. A vigorous fishing industry emerged with the introduction of free trade. Keywords: Economic development; economic history; property rights; fisheries; Iceland. JEL classification: D23; L51; N53; 013. Mailing address 1 August 1995—1 August 1996: Prof Thrainn Eggertsson, Visiting Scholar Hoover Institution Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010 JEBO, forthcoming. That we are somehow more immune from the moral corruption and wretchedness of the sailors on decked vessels than we were from that of other fishermen, is against the nature of things. (Sunnan-Posturinn [Icelandic journal] October, 1836. Cited in Halfdanarson, 1991, p. 148) Of Yseland to wryte is lytile nede Save of Stokfische ... (The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, 1436, Cited in Cutting, 1955, p. 126) 1. Introduction The present study reflects on the equilibrium trap that held the Icelandic economy at low or even declining levels of income and technology from the Middle Ages until the 19th century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland- St
    The Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland Stronger Together? Abstract The Arctic and the developments occurring in the region has raised considerable international awareness over the last years. This region has gone from being mostly unknown to becoming the most sought after region among the international actors. The climate change has caused a change in the region, where the ice is melting creating new shipping routes combining other continents than before. Research done in the region shows a signifcant amount of undiscovered raw resources, such as oil, mineral and gas. The fisheries routes are changing and the new shipping lanes can further enhance the tourism industry. Thus, there are many opportunities in the Arctic region just waiting to be discovered. The small countries the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland are geopolitically situated within the Arctic region, and Greenland is the main country of interest for resource exploitation. As these are small countries they might have difficulty in dealing with the international interest in the regino, especially to turn it into their advantage. Therefore it is interesting to examine if these small countries will stand stronger together against the bigger actors trying to get a foothold in the Arctic region. In order to get an indication of whether the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland are interested in cooperation and how enhanced cooperation can be perceived, it is important to look at the history first knowing that these countries have been colonized, and some still are. Regarding cooperation it will be relevant to examine the cooperation these countries already have and put it in the notions of liberal institutionalism and regionalism to get an indication of what works best for them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sagas of Icelanders As a Historical Source William R
    The Sagas of Icelanders as a Historical Source William R. Short The Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders, sometimes called the Icelandic family sagas) are a valuable resource in the study of society and culture in the Viking age. However, for a variety of reasons, one can not depend upon the sagas as historical fact. This arti- cle provides an introductory look at using the Sagas of Icelanders as a historical source. The Sagas of Icelanders are comprised of about two score longer narratives and a larger number of tales (þáttur). The stories are unique among medieval literature in that they focus not on kings or saints or mythological heroes, but rather on the farmers and chieftains who settled Iceland during the Viking age. They’re stories about plain folk in the pursuit of honor, while engaged, for the most part, in their normal, everyday activi- ties. Additionally, the stories are unique because they were written in the vernacular, old Icelandic, rather than in Latin. In the main, the stories are set in Iceland in the 9th through 11th century. This is the pe- riod in which Iceland was settled, primarily by Norwegians, and the time in which the Icelanders set up their commonwealth form of government. Some of the stories focus on a single individual, while others cover a family for genera- tions. The action is dominated by conflict and feud, and ultimately, its resolution. The narrative tends to be complex, with interwoven plot strands that are taken up and dropped until they all come together at the end of the story.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of the Nordic Councils
    The Case of the Nordic Councils MAPPING MULTILATERALISM IN TRANSITION NO. 1 TOBIAS ETZOLD DECEMBER 2013 The global architecture of multilat - Nordic multilateral cooperation represents one of the oldest and most eral diplomacy is in transition and a traditional forms of regional cooperation in Europe. It comprises the five comprehensive understanding of Nordic countries (often referred to as “Norden”)—Denmark, Finland, the new dynamics, players, and Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as their autonomous regions, the Faroe capacities is needed. The Mapping Islands (Denmark), Greenland (Denmark), and the Åland Islands (Finland). Nordic cooperation has deep roots in history, but started to become more Multilateralism in Transition series institutionalized and formalized only after the end of the Second World War. features short briefing papers on Nordic cooperation builds primarily on consultation and coordination established but evolving regional without affecting the countries’ sovereignty. 1 Four factors were decisive for the organizations and select cross- emerging Nordic multilateral structures after World War II: first, the regional organizations. The papers countries share common historical and cultural traditions, and their closely aim to: (1) identify the key role and related languages enable transnational contacts on all societal levels; second, features of the organizations; (2) the division of labor within their joint institutions bears several advantages; third, the unequal power dynamics of several Nordic countries bordering assess their current dynamics; and major European military, economic, and cultural powers led to the solidifica - (3) analyze their significance for the tion of a Nordic identity and a strengthening of Nordic cooperation; and overall regional and global geopolit - finally, mutual support for a Nordic commitment to act independently in ical context.
    [Show full text]
  • Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland's Great Village
    228 Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland’s Great Village Jesse L. Byock in CONFLICT IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE Changing Perspective on Society and Culture Ashgate Publishing Co. 2003 Jesse Byock. “Feuding in Viking Age Iceland’s Great Village.” In Conflict in Medieval Europe: Changing Perspectives on Society and Culture. Eds. Warren C. Brown and Piotr Górecki. Aldershot: Ashgate, (2003), pp. 229-241. 229 Chapter 12 Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland's Great Village Jesse L. Byock Medieval Iceland, with its vast saga literature and extensive law books, has long supplied researchers with examples of conflict and feud. It is now a century since the legal historian James Bryce wrote that medieval Iceland was a community whose culture and creative power flourished independently of any favouring material conditions, and indeed under conditions in the highest degree unfavourable. Nor ought it to be less interesting to the student of politics and laws as having produced a Constitution unlike any other whereof records remain, and a body of law so elaborate and complex that it is hard to believe that it existed among men whose chief occupation was to kill one another. 1 Despite the eloquence of Lord Bryce's formulation, his last line is patently wrong. The chief occupation of early Icelanders was not to kill one another. To the contrary, Viking Age Icelanders only killed in moderation. Whatever the desire of individuals for vengeance, Icelanders as a society were principally concerned with finding workable compromises that avoided recourse to violence. Most studies of blood taking and peace making in early Iceland have rather determinedly followed Bryce's lead.
    [Show full text]
  • A Viking-Age Valley in Iceland: the Mosfell Archaeological Project
    A VIKING-AGE VALLEY IN ICELAND: THE MOSFELL ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT BY JESSE BYOCK, PHILLIP WALKER, JON ERLANDSON, PER HOLCK, DAVIDE ZORl, MAGNÚS GUÐMUNDSSON AND MARK TVESKOV IN MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY VOLUME XLlX 2005 MANEY Discussing the excavation at Hrísbrú. Clockwise from top: Ólafur Ingimundarson, Andrés Ólafsson, Phillip Walker and Jesse Byock. A Viking-age Valley in Iceland: The Mosfell Archaeological Project By JESSE BYOCK, PHILLIP WALKER, JON ERLANDSON, PER HOLCK, DAVIDE ZORI, MAGNÚS GUÐMUNDSSON and MARK TVESKOV THIS is an account of both the history and the recent findings of the Mosfell Archaeological Project. Excavation is part of an interdisciplinary research approach that uses archaeology, history, anthropology, forensics, environmental sciences and saga studies to construct a picture of human habitation, power relationships, religious and mortuary practices, and environmental change in the region of Mosfellssveit in south-western Iceland. The valley system with surrounding highlands and lowland coastal areas has interlocking natural and cultural components which developed from the 9th-century settlement of Iceland into a Viking Age chieftaincy dominated by the family at Mosfell/Hrísbrú. Excavations of both pagan and Christian sites are providing significant information on the changing periods of occupation, with implications for the larger study of Viking North Atlantic. During the Viking Age, Mosfell was a self-contained social and economic unit connected to the rest of Iceland through a network of roads, including a major E.-W. route to the nearby assembly place for the yearly Althing. With its ship’s landing or port at Leirvogur, in the bay at the valley’s mouth, the region was in commercial and cultural contact with the larger Scandinavian and European worlds.
    [Show full text]